Beyond the Timescape-Chapter 1099: The Wide World Beyond

The others on the boat smiled and nodded as they offered further input.

“That’s right. The guardian of this spirit mine is Senior Ling Feng, who’s a court attendant of our clan, and is also a patriarch in Junior Sister Ling’s family. In a moment, we’ll offer formal greetings to Senior Ling Feng, and hopefully Junior Sister Ling will vouch for us. That way, maybe her patriarch will give us some cultivation tips.”

“Granted, he’s only a court attendant with a foreign surname, but given Senior Ling Feng’s cultivation base, even just a bit of advice from him could be very beneficial to people like us.”

As everyone laughed merrily, the young woman they had called Junior Sister Ling smiled faintly.

“You’re flattering me, Big Bro Hai Shan. I stand in the shadow of my family’s patriarch, that’s all. I couldn’t possibly compare to the rest of you. As a court attendant, the fact that Patriarch Ling Feng was assigned to guard duty here is a magnanimous blessing on the part of your clan.

“But since you mentioned it, Big Bro Hai Shan, when it comes time to meet him, I’ll definitely ask him to give us permission to enter some of the minor worlds to absorb some spirit energy. I just hope it can help all of you Elder Brothers to relax a bit.”

Although the young woman spoke very modestly, the reality was that she was very pleased with the way these clan cultivators were talking about her. It was with such chatting and laughter that the flying boat arrived at the spirit mine.

Everyone flew out, and then Junior Sister Ling bowed to Hai Shan. Taking out a jade slip, she sent a voice message to Patriarch Ling.

Everyone seemed very relaxed. They were all looking forward very much to the rest and relaxation to come, and were simply waiting for the spirit mine’s spell formation to open up. But as time ticked by, the spell formation didn’t open. It didn’t even show signs of opening.

Junior Sister Ling frowned slightly. There had never been a case in the past in which she sent a voice message to Patriarch Ling and he didn’t respond.

Weird... she thought. After a moment of thought, she looked over her shoulder at the others. “The patriarch is probably in the middle of a cultivation session. Big Bro Hai Shan, as a member of the direct bloodline, you should be able to just open the spell formation. Do you want to take the lead here?”

Hai Shan looked at the spell formation. The spell formation blocked sight, making it impossible to see what was going on inside. He considered the situation briefly, then shook his head.

“I do have the authority to do that. But Senior Ling is the guardian here. It would be very rude to just barge in. If Senior Ling is in the middle of cultivation, why don’t we just wait out here for a bit?”

Everyone agreed. Junior Sister Ling nodded. She sent another voice message via jade slip, and even sent a message to Patriarch Ling’s servant. She got no responses.

It was the first time anything like this had happened, and she was feeling a bit flustered. Could it be possible that there had been some sort of accident? However, given the cultivation base and personality of Patriarch Ling, she decided that the chances of some accident happening were very low.

***

None of the group noticed that a cold gaze from inside the spell formation was sweeping over them. Even as Xu Qing absorbed spirit energy inside the spirit mine, he had opened his eyes and was looking outside. Three in the fourth stage of Void Returning. Four that are two-world Smoldering Gods. One that’s a three-world Smoldering God. And the strongest is a four-world Smoldering God.

Killing these people would be as simple as turning over his hand. However, Xu Qing didn’t want to kill anyone if it wasn’t necessary. Going around slaughtering people would only cause more trouble later.

Of course, if he didn’t kill them, it was possible they might report that something unusual was going on at the spirit mine. Granted, the strange circumstance was nothing more than the spirit mine being locked down. Because the circumstances weren’t clear, the clan would probably send someone to check on the mine. If they did, it would at least take some time for that person to arrive. On the other hand, if he did kill these people, it was likely that there were bloodline magics that would notify their clan, and then they would definitely know something was going on at the spirit mine.

Given all that, Xu Qing decided that since they weren’t doing anything to court death, he wouldn’t take any action. He just continued absorbing the spirit energy. The spirit energy was already starting to get thin. Based on Xu Qing’s estimations, it would only take about two more hours to absorb all of it.

Although absorbing it could help improve his cultivation base a bit, the main reason Xu Qing wanted it was to bolster his seven extreme daos. That’s especially true of the daos of space and time. As far as he was concerned, he had not developed those extremes far enough.

Therefore, as he absorbed the spirit energy, he focused on seeking enlightenment based on his experience in that vortex he had passed through in the Primeval Sea. He had begun doing so in the minor world bubble, and was continuing to do so while absorbing the spirit energy.

As the process went on, he also took some of the holy fardark nectar. That made the enlightenment come even easier.

In that manner, time passed. Occasionally, he would run into side issues, but overall, progress was good.

***

About an hour later, Hai Shan was starting to have some misgivings. “Junior Sister Ling,” he said, looking over at her, “even if Senior Ling is in the middle of cultivation, doesn’t he have a servant? Can’t you get in touch with the servant?”

Junior Sister Ling was feeling more uneasy than ever. She nodded. “I did. But... he didn’t answer.”

Everyone else reacted visibly to this news. One by one, they looked over at Hai Shan.

Hai Shan’s eyes narrowed. “If Senior Ling is so busy with cultivation, we shouldn’t bother him. Let’s just leave.”

With that, he flew back onto the black boat. The others hesitated briefly before following. Junior Sister Ling was feeling extremely worried, and wanted to offer a different suggestion. But considering how serious Hai Shan looked, she didn’t dare.

And thus, the group flew off. After the boat was a certain distance away, it stopped in midair. Hai Shan looked back at the mine, his eyes narrowed.

If Patriarch Ling and his servant aren’t responding to messages, it could mean a number of things. Maybe they really are in the middle of cultivation or some other important thing. It’s even possible they went out to do something. Whatever they’re busy with, maybe they can’t tolerate any distractions, and that’s why they aren’t responding to messages.

Of course, there’s another possibility. What if something bad happened? The spell formation is completely intact, with no damage. That indicates that if something bad happened, it didn’t involve an outside attack.

What’s more, we waited outside for about an hour. Nothing happened to us, and we were able to leave freely. All of this seems to indicate....

After some more thought, Hai Shan turned to Junior Sister Ling. “Does Patriarch Ling have any enemies? When was the last time you were in touch with him?”

“The patriarch never leaves loose ends,” she replied immediately. “He always gets rid of his enemies right away. What’s more, he’s been the guardian here for years, and hasn’t done any traveling in that time. I contacted him only a few days ago. It was after we had finished the mission and were on the way back.”

Hai Shan considered the information. It seemed to him that given only a few days had passed, it wasn’t likely that there had been some dramatic event. Even if there had, it was likely still in the beginning phases. That said, if Senior Ling Feng was so focused that he couldn’t respond to messages, that seemed to indicate that if a dramatic event was underway, it probably involved an Imperial Sovereign. And that meant... that there was a chance to earn some credit here!

If I just report that something suspicious is going on, but it turns out everything is normal, then the clan won’t be happy with me. Therefore....

After more thought, he decided that the best thing would be to try to get more information, but keep his distance. There wouldn’t be any harm in that. Having reached the conclusion that this was definitely the best idea, he took out a jade slip and crushed it. In doing so, he called on his direct bloodline authority to connect to the spirit mine’s formation. His eyes flashed with a blood-colored light. Focusing the clan authority in his eyes, he peered inside the spell formation.[2]

When he saw the situation inside, his face fell. The entire area was in ruins! And he saw two eyes as cold as death! A tremor passed through him and blood sprayed out of his mouth. His cultivation base reeled.

“Get out of here!” he shouted. Without any hesitation, he sent the boat speeding off into the distance. At the same time, he took out a clan jade slip to send a call for help. The others had no idea what was going on, but they all looked visibly taken aback.

Unfortunately... before Hai Shan could even finish taking out the jade slip, a cold voice echoed about.

“You shouldn’t have looked.”

A huge hand filled the gazes of Hai Shan and the others. They were suddenly surrounded by a huge spatial grid. Time seemed to slow down. Everything went black.

The hand closed. They were destroyed in body and soul. Even the flying boat was crushed into ashes.

Everything went quiet.

A moment later, the spirit mine’s spell formation rippled, and Xu Qing emerged, having completely absorbed all the spirit energy. He looked around.

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“So this is the Fifth Star Ring...” he murmured.

He burst into motion.

1. Hai Shan: Hai is a surname which means “sea, ocean.” It’s not very common as a surname. Shan means “mountain.” So these characters together mean “sea and mountain” and are the same characters from the “Sea and Mountain Incantation” earlier in the novel. If you reverse them, they’re Mountain and Sea, as in “Mountain and Sea Region” from earlier in the novel, or all the Mountain and Sea stuff from ISSTH. This name could well be a Daoist name, but there isn’t any definitive proof either way, and it’s not important, so I’m going to interpret it as an ordinary surname and given name. ☜

2. Just to be clear, his “direct bloodline authority” is not the magical/cultivation/godly authority, but rather, ordinary authority, i.e. permission or the right to do something. ☜